Should we be proud or embarassed if...

[brewcity77]

I didnt talk about embarassment of the team. I said its embarassing getting a bid under such underachieving circumstances.

Why? Do your friends make fun of you at the bar? Do you feel you have to wear a paper bag over your head to home games? I think it's a pretty solid thing to say that our level of competition was so high that the Selection Committee still found us worthy of making the field despite having a record loss total. It shows that we take on the best every night. We may not always win, but we always compete and we compete against the best.

Bottom line, my hope for this team every year is to make the Sweet 16. I'm disappointed when we come up short, but let's be honest, I'm always disappointed when the season comes to its end prematurely. In order for us to reach the Sweet 16, we need to get into the field. I'm hardly going to be embarrassed about that. Should Seton Hall be embarrassed if they run the table and win the Big East Tournament title and get in? Hell no. Honestly, this mindset makes no sense to me. It's depression for depression's sake. I don't like being depressed, and can't understand why anyone would deliberately pursue it.

[Fullodds]

If we get in the tourney it will be because our resume was good enough.  How a team finishes is just one factor.  Hard to look at our wins (@UCONN, SYR, ND, WV, @UWM (potential Horizon league champs)) and not think that we deserve a bid.  Jay Bilas is correct when he says what happens in these tourneys is not that important (unless of course you're off the bubble and win the tourney).

Soft bubble this year.  Take advantage of it and enjoy the opportunity.  Some teams don't even make it to the NIT.  How would you like to be DePaul or Indiana??  

[PGsHeroes32]

Why? Do your friends make fun of you at the bar? Do you feel you have to wear a paper bag over your head to home games? I think it's a pretty solid thing to say that our level of competition was so high that the Selection Committee still found us worthy of making the field despite having a record loss total. It shows that we take on the best every night. We may not always win, but we always compete and we compete against the best.

Bottom line, my hope for this team every year is to make the Sweet 16. I'm disappointed when we come up short, but let's be honest, I'm always disappointed when the season comes to its end prematurely. In order for us to reach the Sweet 16, we need to get into the field. I'm hardly going to be embarrassed about that. Should Seton Hall be embarrassed if they run the table and win the Big East Tournament title and get in? Hell no. Honestly, this mindset makes no sense to me. It's depression for depression's sake. I don't like being depressed, and can't understand why anyone would deliberately pursue it.

Why would Seton Hall be embarassed. Their backs were to the walls and they rattled off 5 straight wins if that happens to get into the field. We would have lost 3 in a row. Stop using comparisons that are not to be compared. Completely different.

[brewcity77]

Why would Seton Hall be embarassed. Their backs were to the walls and they rattled off 5 straight wins if that happens to get into the field. We would have lost 3 in a row. Stop using comparisons that are not to be compared. Completely different.

Well frankly, the impression that I get us that if people take the "woe are we" embarrassed mindset, you'll embrace them as kindred souls and take solace in this "we suck" mindset, and if people disagree with you, you'll attack their opinions even when they make valid points.

I feel that my points about us succeeding despite a makeshift roster of JUCOs and underclassmen and our ability to prove our worth against one of the most grueling gauntlets in the country should be badges of honor, not of shame. I also pointed out that the only way for us to achieve any postseason success is for us to play in the postseason. You conveniently ignored all of this in order to serve your "we should be ashamed" agenda. Sorry I'm not on your bandwagon, but I think it's a rather dismal place to be.

[marquette99]

How could we lose to providence?  If the best player in the conference torches us like he did notre dame we would lose.  It was at providence, but they came within one shot of beating a potential 1-seed, so with a big night from him they could certainly beat us.

How anyone can say they would be embarrassed or fantasize that if they are harsh enough critics ("we only accept winning") that the team will win for fear of their criticism is really silly.

This team is known throughout college basketball as one of the hardest working teams out there, so they never embarrass me.

They do make a lot of dumb mistakes (like butler's perfect boxout OF DJO on a rebound while a seton hall player goes untouched to slam home an offensive rebound - so I get someone being frustrated that mistakes are costing us games, but embarrassed?

[brewcity77]

More blind homer shades I see. No, I said 9-10 idiot. Not 9-9. Right now we are 9-9 and have a chance to win games to make us legit for the tourney. 18-14 at 9-10 is embarrassing. Losing 3 straight is embarassing. Losing to the 12th and 14th teams with a chance to lock a bid, is embarassing. Comprendo?

My expectations were 11-7 in conference with 10-8 being acceptable and just fine. An overall record of around last year by NCAA tourney time(22-11), so anything like 20-12 or so would have been fine. Is that unrealistic? If you are a DePaul fan, yes.

thinking 18-14 and 9-10 is good is asinine.

Another thing...I tried to help you get off the hook on this one. I tried to let you escape without making an ass of yourself with your fallacious comparison. But instead, you decided to lash out at me by continuing to use this comparison that simply doesn't work.

Let's go back to what I said:

Okay, so let me get this straight. Your conference expectations were 11-7, but you were okay with 10-8, and apparently 9-9 is somehow something to be embarrassed about?

You are trying to say 10-8 is okay and 9-10 is unacceptable? I'm not sure if you're familiar with it, but there's a concept out there called "math" that indicates your comparison doesn't work. See, the only way to accurately make this comparison is to include the Big East tournament game in both scenarios. This works one of two ways:

1) You compare 10-8 with 9-9, which I did.

2) You compare 10-9 with 9-10. If you are going to automatically assume a first round Big East tourney for one, you must assume the same for the other.

So I repeat...

...does that mean the entire season hung in the balance when Louisville hit the late bucket to beat us, or was it when we couldn't get closer than 3 points to Villanova on the road in the final minutes?

You are saying that the difference of the entire season being "just fine" and embarrassing was the final result of one Big East game. And because Louisville was decided by a single play, that means the difference is the result of that single play. I'm sorry, but that's about the silliest case of kneejerk reactions I've ever heard of.

[garekis]

A few things:

(1) 

Jay Bilas is correct when he says what happens in these tourneys is not that important (unless of course you're off the bubble and win the tourney).

I disagree with Bilas somewhat on this point (or, at least, I'd qualify his statement).  I think for squads with holes in their resumes (ours included, among many), the Selection Committee will be watching (or at least noting carefully the results) of the first couple/few rounds of the conf tournaments.  My understanding is that, with a few exceptions, the Committee has completed its first task, selection, by Thursday or early Friday of conf tournament week and then moves on in earnest to its second task, seeding (although, it's not quite this cut-and-dry - some talk re seeding is occurring while selection discussions are ongoing and, as noted, vice versa).  So w/r/t to selection: the results of the latter rounds of the conf tournaments tend to not matter all that much; but "bubblish" teams can do themselves quite a bit of harm and good in the first couple/few rounds of their conf tournaments.  Most, if not all, of the the Selection Committee members arrive in Indy tomorrow, with formal sessions beginning Wednesday morning.  From the comfort of their hotel rooms and bar stools, I'm quite sure they and their staff will be keeping an eye on ours and quite a few other games tomorrow night.

(2)  Regardless of how we perform in the BET, we should be honored and excited to receive an NCAA tournament bid (and I'll go on record: we will).  Our team has worked its collective tail off for the last 11 months.  They should be proud of that.  And so should we.  Some exceedingly frustrating losses notwithstanding, they've represented the University well.  That's not Pollyanna talk.  That's an objective viewpoint.  Our losses haven't been for a lack of effort.  Anyone who believes otherwise is (a) uninformed or (b) willfully blind.  Hard work should be acknowledged and appreciated all day, every day.  Hard work which results in demonstrable good outcomes (e.g., 9 quality wins and an NCAA tournament bid) should be lauded.  I'm in the camp of folks that believe getting an invitation to the NCAA tournament should be Marq's expectation every year (i.e., practically speaking, approx 8 times every 10 years).  I decided in December that - this year - I'd be satisfied with just that.  This year, that's good enough for me.

(3) Anyone who suggests (let alone anyone who actually believes) we should fire Buzz as of today is an idiot, plain and simple.

[brewcity77]

+3 because I agree on all three points.